


Take one for the journey

by sketchypotato



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Happy birthday Madara, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 11:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14669958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sketchypotato/pseuds/sketchypotato
Summary: What truly makes a gift special is the thought that is put into it.





	Take one for the journey

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday yeehaw man. I've been waiting so long to post this hehe
> 
> This fic is set after an event similar to golden wishing live, except this is a fantasy AU where not everyone is an idol so the live is more like a party? mini-festival? sort of thing haha

It was in Anzu’s nature to want to give something in return. Shinobu and Madara had not only saved her life when she collapsed, they had even gathered all her friends to throw a get-well-soon party, so she wanted a way to truly show her thanks. But what could she give them? Shinobu was straightforward, a few brand-new shurikens had sent him over the moon. But what did Madara want? Even when she asked, he replied that he wanted nothing in return but for her to take care of herself, “But it would be nice if Anzu-san would finally call me Mama! Hahaha ☆” And since Anzu had no intention of doing the latter, she was stumped.

After few days of looking through the town and doing her own reading, she came up with an idea.

She finished making the gift just in time too. Madara had mentioned that he would be leaving the village the next day, so she didn’t have any more time to waste. She reached the small hut at the edge of the village and knocked on the door.

“Anzu-saaaaaaaan! I didn’t expect to see you here! Is anything the matter?” Madara swung open the door forcefully, and Anzu had to jump back to avoid getting hit. He was energetic as always, shouting out his greeting with a huge grin on his face. Anzu had half a mind to scold him for being so loud, but she was here to be nice, so she refrained. Instead she dug around in her bag and took out a small package, which she handed over to Madara.

“It’s a gift as thanks for helping me when I collapsed. I know you said you didn’t want anything in return, but I couldn’t help it.” She smiled sheepishly. “I hope it would be useful for your journey.”

Madara unwrapped the package and held the object up to the light. It was a protection charm, one that granted the owner safe travel, woven with special herbs and covered in carefully written runes. Anzu wasn’t a sorcerer, but charms could be made even by non-magic-users given the right materials and runes, albeit with more difficulty. Anzu had carefully studied the books on magic in the library to make sure she got it right, and even got with Natsume to check her work. It had taken longer than expected to complete, but now that the villagers were avoiding giving her work she was happy to have something to fill her time.

Madara wasn’t a magic-user, but he could sense magic, and he could feel great magical energy coming from the charm, to the point that he was momentarily stunned.

_Because the effectiveness of a charm is dependent on the feelings that go into it._

“Mikejima-san, is there something wrong?”

He ended up staring at it for a bit too long without saying a word, and Anzu had started to get nervous. Her words snapped him to reality.

“Nothing’s wrong at all! Mama is just very touched by your gift, Anzu-san! So much that I could cry!”  And he was tearing up slightly despite his laugh. Anzu, not quite sure how to respond, reached to pat him on the shoulder, but found herself being lifted up instead to cries of laughter.

Normally Anzu would protest to be put down, but there was still one more part of the gift that she had yet to do, and she realised it would be easier to do it from this position. It would be embarrassing but… it would increase the power of the charm, so surely she could something so simple for the sake of protecting a friend. She shut her eyes, told herself that this was just to amplify the charm, it didn’t _mean_ anything, and leaned down.

_To make a protection charm truly effective, you need…_

“Anzu-san?”

Unfortunately Madara looked up a bit too fast, and a kiss on the forehead became a kiss on the nose. Anzu opened her eyes to see that their faces were too close for comfort, and she backtracked so fast she nearly fell out of his arms. She could feel her face heating up, and this wasn’t helped by the fact that Madara was slowly turning red too.

“Uhm, that was, the charm, it needed a kiss, that’s all!!” Anzu covered her face in embarrassment as she stuttered out the words. Madara, for once, seemed dumbfounded, gently setting her down without a word. Moments passed, and then suddenly he started laughing, almost doubling over.

“Thank you, Anzu-san! I’m extremely pleased! This is the best gift I could eeeeeever wish for! I’m glad that you like me after all!! Hahaha!”

Anzu, who had since uncovered her face, looked away as her face started heating up again. “It’s nothing, I just wanted to thank you… Anyway, that’s all I had to give you, I’ll be on my way now. Have a safe journey, Mikejima-san!”

“Ah! A nice smile from Anzu-san, now I truly feel blessed!”

“Please stop, Mikejima-san…”

She sighed, turning around to make her leave, but it wasn’t for a few steps when she remembered one last thing. She quickly ran back, just stopping Madara from closing the door completely.

“Mikejima-san! It’s not for a few more days, but I won’t be able to see you then.” She beamed at him. “Happy Birthday, Mikejima-san!”

Madara really looked he was about to cry now. “So many blessings in one day! I am truuuuuly grateful!!”

He ruffled her hair, which Anzu figured she could endure for a short while, before wiggling out of his grasp, running off as she waved goodbye. Madara went back into his hut, securing the charm safely to his bag as he packed his equipment for the journey. He had felt the spark during the kiss, which meant that the protection charm was sealed to him, so Anzu’s embarrassment wasn’t for nothing. But regardless of that, he knew that as long as he had the charm with him, there was nothing on his travels that could take him down.

He had people to return home to, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> twitter @spacetier i love these children


End file.
